


Ah, Naught My Sighs Avail

by elistaire



Series: Hope Told a Flattering Tale [3]
Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Amusement Parks, Darwin isn't dead, Friendship/Love, M/M, Post Movie, injuries, lots of fighting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-19
Updated: 2011-07-19
Packaged: 2017-10-21 13:11:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/225558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elistaire/pseuds/elistaire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Almost a year after the kidnapping, there comes a fine summer day where Xavier and his students are going to the temporary carnival for a fun afternoon.  Erik's even come in for a visit and (with a sense of humor) agrees to tag along. Of course, things can't go that smoothly, and there's always trouble.</p><p><i>A traveling amusement park was in town for a few days and had set-up in the field beside the school in town.  Three nights of spinning dervishes and roller coasters, of buttery popcorn and pure sugar cotton candy tinted a ridiculous shade of pink, of corn dogs on sticks and pretzels coated in hard salt, of prizes that might be won if one could beat the odds, of bright lights and loud music, and freedom to roam and laugh.  </i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Ah, Naught My Sighs Avail

For an endless amount of time, he was no more.

Pushed to the limits, every bond had undone, atoms pulling away from atoms, electrons no longer shared.

He had been everything and nothing, and all in between.

But he had started to pull himself together. Nucleus by nucleus. Electron by electron. Covalent bond by covalent bond. Hydrogen bond by hydrogen bond.

It was a slow process, kept slow all the more by his utter delight in discovery. By experiencing the wonder of what he was, of the threads that held the universe together, and of what had always been so invisible before but now lay plainly out for him to watch. By being everywhere and nowhere, all at once.

But still, a sense of duty nagged at him, and of requirements left untended. He had made a promise. He always kept his promises.

~~~

The students were excited.

Truth be told, Charles was excited.

A traveling amusement park was in town for a few days and had set-up in the field beside the school in town. Three nights of spinning dervishes and roller coasters, of buttery popcorn and pure sugar cotton candy tinted a ridiculous shade of pink, of corn dogs on sticks and pretzels coated in hard salt, of prizes that might be won if one could beat the odds, of bright lights and loud music, and freedom to roam and laugh. Charles hadn’t been to an amusement park in untold years and the students had been working so very diligently as of late. He felt that they all deserved a reward.

This was the third and final night that the amusement company would be nearby, before they pulled up their trailers and moved on to the next small town. The last night of a carnival was usually the best, too, as it almost always ended with a fireworks display, and the timing of going on the last night would work out well with the end of the study week.

Charles had encouraged all the students to take part, and he’d organized the travel with the older students driving cars at a few pre-arranged times so that anyone who grew weary or tired could come home early and rest. He didn’t have so many students, yet, that it wasn’t feasible in any case. Two cars, with Sean and Alex as drivers, would be enough to ferry everyone over.

Hank, Sean, and Alex had made Charles promise that he would go himself, and have fun. It had been an easy promise to make. Charles wanted to go. And in his new wheelchair, with the larger tires and the improved braking, that Hank had devised, he would have little trouble traveling over the rough ground of the field. He should be able to go almost any place that the others could. It gave him a thrill to have a taste of freedom stretch before him.

Charles finished his paperwork and stared out the window. Late afternoon and the sun was a few hours away from setting, and the first batch of students were loading up and on their way. He should get ready to go himself. It wouldn’t do to not have someone there to chaperone. Just in case anyone’s abilities got away from them. Not that Charles thought that would happen. Really, now. There were less than a dozen students, even including Hank and Sean and Alex, and only a few of them had mutant gifts that included shooting off energy beams or plasma or…sonic screams. Charles pinched the bridge of his nose and said a small prayer. _Please, please, let everyone behave._

He wheeled himself away from the window, trying to decide if he wanted a corn dog or a pretzel more. He could eat both, but he suspected that too much carnival food might make him feel unwell. He stopped.

A tall figure was in the doorway.

“Good afternoon, Charles,” Erik said.

Charles dropped the idea of the amusement park in an instant. “Erik,” he said. “Come for a game of chess?” Erik hadn’t visited in a few months. Ever since that unfortunate incident with the government agency, nearly a year ago, he’d visited more frequently, but lately he’d been absent. It had distressed Charles, made him wonder about too many horrible unknowns. Whatever dangerous schemes Erik had been involved with, Charles was glad to see him whole and sound. Charles would sooner tell him to go away so he could oversee the students than he would jump into a river filled with piranha.

Erik glanced behind Charles, out the window. “Your students appear to be going somewhere,” he said. Erik carefully placed a small paper carton on the corner of Charles’ desk; it was filled with green pea pods, ripe and ready to split open, and Charles smiled. Erik had brought him another gift.

“There’s a traveling amusement park company in the community field just outside town,” Charles said. “It’s a social opportunity. Let the students relax and enjoy themselves.” He wheeled forward until he was just in front of Erik. “But they’re all old enough to take care of themselves. It would be a perfect evening for us to visit together.”

An odd expression crossed Erik’s face. “You were planning on going?” he asked.

Charles waved a hand. “Next time. You’re more important.”

Erik gazed out the window again. “Nonsense.” He smiled. “We could go together. Ride the tilt-a-wheel.”

Charles chuckled. “After everything you’ve done, I can’t imagine you would get much enjoyment out of a simple roller coaster.”

“You would be surprised what pleases me.” Erik half turned in the doorway. “I would enjoy a corn dog, I think.”

“Now who’s the telepath?” Charles asked. “I was just thinking about such a thing.”

~~~

“Aren’t you going?” Hank asked.

“No,” Gus said. He stared at the car where the others were about to be on their way to the carnival. “I think I want to stay here.” He had a funny expression on his face and Hank found he was suddenly growing worried. Gus’ mutant ability was to see into the future. “Did you see something? Does something happen tonight?”

Gus looked strained. “Something happens every night,” he replied evasively. “I just don’t feel like going. Too many people with too many futures,” he said.

Hank nodded. He wasn’t going, but that was because he looked like he belonged _in_ the carnival, not attending it as a visitor. Besides, someone had to man the phones in case there was an emergency and someone had to be available to make sure the caravan carpooling went smoothly.

“Oh, hey, Alex?” Gus waved an arm to catch Alex’s attention as he went by.

“Yeah?” Alex paused. “What do you need?”

“Can you take this?” Gus held out a paper bag.

Alex frowned with the suspicious look of a man who wasn’t going to hold something that might get him in trouble. “Can I look in the bag?”

“Absolutely.”

Hank peered over Alex’s shoulder as Alex pulled a set of clothes from the bag. Shorts, a t-shirt, underwear, socks, and sneakers. All brand new.

“Something you want to tell me?” Alex asked.

“Um, no,” Gus hedged. His eyes shifted sideways and he wouldn’t meet Alex’s gaze. “You’ll need the change of clothes. Later.”

Alex put one hand to his hip and looked at Gus with a hard, calculating expression. “Why? Do I fall into a river or something?”

“No, you’re fine,” Gus said, still not meeting Alex’s or Hank’s gazes. He moaned and covered his face. “Look, it’s better if I don’t tell you. Just take the bag.”

“Okay,” Alex said. “However, if you don’t tell me something I need to know—“

“And take this.” Gus held out his hand, palm up. He held a small roll of gauze and a jar of ointment. He finally met Alex’s eyes.

“Does someone get _hurt_?” Alex asked, voice tight, as he took the two items.

“A tiny bit. It’ll look worse than it is,” Gus said. “And I would tell you, but—“

“If you tell us, we’ll act differently?” Alex interjected, but quietly.

“Yeah.”

“Okay. Your call. You’d better be right.” Alex gave them a mock salute. “Have fun staying at the castle.”

Hank watched Alex hop into the driver’s side of the car, the kids in the back waving good-bye to Hank and Gus as the car started off into the hazy afternoon. He glanced sideways at Gus. “Can you tell me now?”

Gus shook his head. “We should go and do some laundry,” he said.

“Laundry!” Hank shook his head. “Whatever you’ve seen in the future, it involves a lot of clothes and linens. Sounds like when my aunt came to visit and we had to air out the guest room.”

“Does it?” Gus asked, but he was already turning to go inside the house and Hank couldn’t see the expression on his face.

 

~~~

“This is…interesting,” Erik said as he looked out at the field littered with metal contraptions. The rides looked positively dangerous, as if held together with spit and bubblegum. The food vendors looked suspicious, and Erik was not a picky eater, having had his choice of nothing or half-moldy, rotted food.

At least he had ample materials should he need them at a moment’s notice.

“Isn’t it perfect?” Charles asked, his face aglow with enthusiasm. “The students will certainly enjoy themselves.” He canted his head sideways. “They’ve been working hard, so it’s good for them to take a break.”

The words were said with a twisty-sort of note to them, and Erik wondered if perhaps Charles was trying to pull his nose about being far too engaged in his own schemes. “As you said,” Erik replied, “a break every now and then is good for the soul.”

As they moved slowly toward the cluster of rides and booths, Charles asked—perhaps a bit too casually, “How is Raven?”

Erik smiled. “Well. She sends her love.”

A small sigh escaped from Charles. “Tell her I miss her. I’m glad she’s found her way in the world.”

“I shall.” Erik stopped. They had reached the perimeter. “Now what?” he asked. “Are you hungry?” The smells of the food booths were wafting over them—things deep fried in hot grease, the tang of vinegar and ketchup, and heated sugar.

Charles was staring up at the Ferris wheel. It wasn’t a particularly large structure, but the view at the top would be impressive enough. “How about a ride?” he asked.

Erik looked down. “I could take you as high as you wanted to go,” he said softly. “There’s no need to be earth-bound with these humans.”

Charles laughed. “You miss the point. Wouldn’t you rather spend a few minutes sitting next to me, and concentrate on that, rather than levitating something?”

“As you wish, then,” Erik said. While they waited in line to load onto the Ferris wheel, he eyed the structure, pausing to send his attention into each strut and seam. He tightened a few screws, and fixed a buckling that had just started on one of the panels. It was hardly a death trap, but he was appreciative that he was here with Charles, rather than letting him ride such a contraption on his own.

“I somehow feel quite ridiculous,” Erik said as the metal bar came down to protect them from pitching out of the metal seat.

“I have to think you’re the safest person here,” Charles said. Between them, where no one could see, he reached out his hand and clasped Erik’s tightly. “See, I thought you’d enjoy this.”

The seat shifted backwards to allow the next set of passengers to board the next seat and Erik found that his entire world shifted with it. Here he was, sitting in an rickety old metal Ferris wheel, on a balmy summer afternoon with cicadas droning in the distance and sunlight on his shoulders, world domination on his agenda, and for one bizarrely out-of-place moment, all was right with his world.

~~~

Sean bumped Alex’s elbow hard. “Isn’t that Erik?” he asked. “With the Professor?”

They were standing at the back of a small crowd, watching one of the locals take on the ducks in the shooting gallery. At the moment, his marksmanship was taking a bite out of the booth’s profits, as duck after duck went down. The small gathered crowd ooh’ed and ahh’ed as each duck fell with a metallic snap. Sean had been wondering if he could take down the ducks with his sonic blast. But just one duck at a time. He still had a lot to learn about reaching specific targets.

“Yeah, it is,” Alex said, frowning hard. “What’s he even doing here?”

“He visits from time to time. Especially since…since that thing,” Sean finished, not quite sure how to talk about the kidnapping when surrounded by a group of normal humans.

“I know that,” Alex said. “But they usually stay at the house. Not ride the Ferris wheel.”

Sean shrugged. “Who doesn’t like the Ferris wheel?”

Alex raised an eyebrow.

“The whole thing is made out of metal,” Sean noted.

Alex’s eyebrow went even higher.

“Maybe we should check on the Professor,” Sean suggested. “Make sure he’s okay.”

“I’m sure he’s okay,” Alex muttered to himself. “It’s the rest of us I’m worried about.”

~~~

“Could we go down to the lab now?” Hank asked as he folded the last pillowcase. Gus had really been adamant about making sure the laundry had been done. “We’ve got that plastics experiment to finish up. You said it was important to get it done. And the one with the hair straightening formula. Why did we need to develop that, by the way? It doesn’t have any useful applications. Other than straightening hair.” Hank wasn’t exactly sure why he’d been working on a formula to help people straighten their hair—he hadn’t even known it was a problem that needed solving—but Gus had said it was important. Now, the plastics stuff Hank could understand. First off, it didn’t have any _metal_ in it, which would be an advantage, just in case things got worse between Magneto and the rest of the world. Second, it was amazing science.

“The hair straightening formula is going to be very popular,” Gus said as he hefted the laundry basket, which was piled high with folded sheets and towels. “It’ll make us a fortune.”

“Why do we need a fortune?” Hank muttered as he lifted the other basket, this one full of towels. “Charles is already loaded.”

“He doesn’t have enough yet for what we need,” Gus said and Hank sighed. Gus was always looking down the road, and he seemed to share it all with the Professor, but not too much with anyone else. But whatever he saw in the future, it seemed that it had to do with patents.

He was constantly telling Hank to develop some idea. Hank had never been so busy in the lab, had never had so many projects going on at once. He was creating amazing, insane things. Alloys, wiring processes, methods of treating paper products, different sorts of glues with all sorts of different properties and drying potentialities, fertilizers, anti-fungicides, construction materials, and lots of women’s cosmetics.

Hank got the other stuff. It all had applications he could envision being used to help feed people, to make life healthier, or better, or work faster, and bridges and roads safer. The women’s cosmetics…he had a hard time with that. He was spending time in the lab so women could preen? Not that he didn’t want women to be pretty…but he was sort of sure that at the moment, none of them were making themselves look lovely on his account. He was working on not being bitter about that.

Gus had him working most recently on making a redder lipstick. At least he’d discovered some inexpensive methods to emulsify the carmine particles in a gel suspension. He’d been able to normalize the production process so that it’d be cheaper than the standard business-industry model used. They’d kept proprietary rights over the whole thing and sold the sole application use to a single big-name cosmetics company for an enormous sum of money. The portion of the wages earned on that deal was still rolling in—a portion to Gus for the initial idea, a portion to Charles and the school for the lab space and materials, and the rest to Hank for the scientific know-how. Hank’s bank account was fuller than he’d ever seen it.

“You’ve said that, but how much is enough for you?”

Gus gave him a sideways look. “I’ll let you know when we get there.”

“So we can go down to the lab now?”

Gus shook his head. “Not tonight. We should go make something to eat later. Everyone likes fruit salad, right?” He looked at Hank, but his gaze was far beyond where Hank was standing. “And we should make sure we have enough ice cream in the freezer.”

Hank wondered when he’d turned from boy-genius-scientist into boy-wonder-house-maid.

~~~

 

The Ferris wheel slowed and jolted to a stop. The riders at the bottom were the first to let off.

“Looks like we’ll be waiting a few minutes,” Charles observed. Afternoon was slowly sinking into evening, and the sun was only a short time away from setting.

“So it appears,” Erik said. He leaned against Charles, who leaned back against him and closed his eyes. For one long moment, Erik did the same, and while it wasn’t quite _pretend_ , he allowed himself to dream for just a moment. That if the war on humankind had already been won, if Erik did not have to be so closely watching the world, that perhaps he could have had this. Every day. Every night. Just these moments, with Charles next to him, warm and solid. Erik’s eyes snapped open and he stiffened his back. It was foolish to daydream. Neither mutants nor people such as Charles and himself were accepted. It was a dream that he needed to make possible, not a fantasy to be swept away into.

“Erik?” Charles asked, his eyes searching Erik’s face. Whatever he found there must have given him some sort of answer. “You know,” he said slowly, “when we split, I think I got the better deal.” There was a wicked glint in his eyes.

“Better deal?” Erik echoed, his curiosity overwhelming his previous displeasure. “There was no deal.”

“Hank stayed with me.”

Erik made a scoffing noise. “I got the teleporter and your sister, who is worth a hundred Hanks.”

“I try not to compare Raven to anyone, she’s far too unique,” Charles said mildly. “But getting back to Hank. Do you know, he’s invented quite a lot of items lately? And not just things. But processes. Ways to do things.”

The capsule they were riding in gave a clink and moved forward one position, and swung back and forth lightly. Erik held out his hand and it instantly steadied.

“That’s so marvelous,” Charles murmured as he leaned in against Erik again. “No one will see us. I’ll make sure,” he added. Then he continued on with his previous thread of discourse, “It’s made us quite a bit. More than paid for the lab set-up.”

“How nice for you,” Erik said. Would Charles always speak of his students? Could they not talk about…something else? With the sky tinted orange and red, like it might catch on fire at the edges, Erik found he was no longer sure why he had come anymore. He had work to do, other places to be. “Do you know, most of these traveling carnivals have sideshows,” he said, his voice cruel. “I must imagine that many of them are mutants. Much like Hank. He would be worth a nickel, for the humans to pay to see him, wouldn’t he?”

Charles sighed. “This is a small carnival. Just rides and food, Erik. I want you to listen to what I’m telling you about Hank’s inventions. And what we’ve earned from them. I’ve started to invest it, of course. Re-invest it. Buy land.” Charles fluttered a hand out into space. “It provides a lot of influence—“ He grunted and started forward and for an agonizing moment, Erik was sure that he would slip right under the retaining bar. Erik clutched at him by the shoulders. “Charles!”

“He’s here—“ Charles’ eyes were tightly closed. “He’s almost here—“ His eyes opened wide. “The students, Erik. We’ve got to get them away to safety.” His fingers went to his temple and Erik could hear the mental commands being given. _Sean, Alex, there’s danger. Get the other students out of here, please. Immediately. Don’t wait for me, just go._

“What danger, Charles?” Erik flexed his hands, feeling the metal in the Ferris wheel, in the stand below, in all the other rides, the booths, the cars waiting in the next section over of the field. He couldn’t detect a threat, but he had materials at his command, if need be.

“Cain Marko,” Charles said.

“Your step-brother?” Erik asked, surprised. Raven had spoken of him, but not lightly, nor often. In fact, other than his name and the minor detail that he had come along with Charles’ mother’s second marriage, he knew nothing.

“He’s different now,” Charles said grimly.

~~~

“Danger?” Alex looked around, but all he saw were happy people having a good time. “Where? Who?”

“Let’s just get the others and go,” Sean said. He motioned toward the aggregating group of students that had formed a clump around him. They had all heard Charles’ warning.

Alex looked the students over. “Do you think you can take them all?” he asked. They had come in two cars. It would be a squeeze, but if Sean could get the kids all in one car, that would leave one car for Alex. “One of us should stay with the Professor. You can fly back,” he added when he saw Sean about to protest being made to pull babysitter duty. “I can’t fly.”

“Fine,” Sean said, his voice hard and acknowledging the logic but obviously not liking it, and he flicked a hand at the others. “Let’s get out of here.” He started counting heads.

Alex waited long enough to watch the group move to the field of parked cars before he sprinted the short distance to the Ferris wheel. “Professor?” he asked softly.

 _Alex, please be careful, we’re about to get a very dangerous visitor--_

Alex suddenly noticed that he could hear a distant noise. Thudding. Rhythmic thudding. Whatever it was, it was coming closer. Then he noticed that the people around him were all turning around and slowly moving away. Nobody seemed to be in a panic, everyone just suddenly seemed to think it was time to go home. He supposed a panic and mob scene wouldn’t have been very effective. At least the people would be out of the way, although he’d prefer if they were moving away faster. Whatever caused that thudding, it was coming along awfully fast.

Alex peered up into the sky. The Professor and Erik were still two thirds of the way up, and at the rate the operator was going, it’d be at least another five minutes before they were down. Alex sprinted over to the guy operating the Ferris wheel controls. “You can’t go any faster?” he asked.

“No, kid, I can’t,” the guy said, his voice very cross. “Believe me, I want to. I just got the biggest urge to get out of here, but I gotta finish this.” The next car came into position, he pushed the button to release the safety bar, and the people hopped out and started to leave.

Alex ran out a little ways. The Professor and Erik were still a few minutes from disembarking. He shook his head. He supposed Erik could take care of the situation, if need be. Alex turned in the direction of the thudding noise and planted his feet. He was going to be ready for whatever it was.

~~~

 

Charles could still see into the distance, but it did him no good. He couldn’t see Cain. Sean was getting the students to safety. He had planted the suggestion in all the human minds to leave, and they were doing his bidding. There were too many of them to do anything else than create a sudden urge to leave—causing panic would create disorder. If he pushed them to rush to escape, they’d create a snarl of traffic and all be trapped here. No, as interminable as it felt, he had to wait for them to slowly exit.

Beside him, Erik was clenching his teeth. He’d offered to get them down from the Ferris wheel in his own way and Charles had asked him to wait. Erik was more than willing to show off his abilities in front of a group of people, but given just another minute, and there would be no need. They’d be down, and the people would be safe, and—

The whole world rumbled with the thudding sound and Charles finally saw Cain. He was changed. He’d always been large and solidly built with the body of an athlete and a bully. But now he was enormous. Dressed in a strange outfit of dark orange-red, he moved like a man that could not be stopped. On his head was a helmet, which explained to Charles why he could sense Cain’s presence, but nothing else about him. Helmets again.

Cain moved more quickly than his size should have allowed, and he was almost upon them, but then Erik was standing in the car next to Charles, his hands out stretched and twisting, flashing. Metal from the other rides moved like fluid through the air, encapsulating Cain.

What people remained below—and particularly the operator of the Ferris wheel—panicked and ran. The wheel stopped, and Charles knew that he was stuck for the moment, suspended twelve feet in the air. He could hear the cries of the others still in the remaining Ferris wheel cars—not everyone had been able to get away.

Cain ripped through the metal prison with little difficulty. “Charles,” he snarled. “You’ve made some friends.”

Then there was a blinding blast of energy—Alex had taken aim and fired. Cain went flying backward twenty feet from the percussion alone, but picked himself up with a sneer. He brushed away non-existent dirt from his shoulder. “You’ll need more than that to stop me.”

Charles put his fingers to his temple and summoned all his ability. He was going to end up smashed to a bloody pulp if he didn’t get through that helmet.

~~~

Alex stood too shocked to move for a moment. He’d fully _blasted_ the giant man, and all it had done was knock him down.

He looked up—Erik had thrown a whole lot of thick metal at the guy and he’d ripped through it like tissue paper. Alex could see Erik standing up in the small Ferris wheel car. He had his arms out, probably about to summon a mega-load of metal to his aid. Alex was glad that someone was up there with the Professor, and there really was nobody better to trust with the Professor than Erik. Most of the time, anyway.

 _Alex,_ his voice came into Alex’s head, _we need to remove Cain’s helmet. I can’t reach his mind while he is wearing it._

Okay, Alex thought back. He hoped that the Professor was still listening to him.

Cain, the giant man with arms the size of entire hams, had picked himself up from where Alex’s blast had thrown him. It had taken him a moment. Alex spent that moment to look behind Cain. If he hit him from the correct angle, he’d knock him backwards into one of the heavy-duty trailers that had been used to bring the rides here. The thing had to weigh at least a couple tons. If he got smacked into that, there might be a few moments where Alex could get in there and yank the helmet off. At least, he hoped so. He didn’t relish the idea that Cain might grab him with those meaty fists. That sounded like an unpleasant way to die.

Cain was up and walking forward, his footfalls thudding into the ground.

Alex sidestepped twenty feet to the left and prepared to blast the hell out of him.

~~~

 

“Again, Havok!” Erik cried out. Alex had hit Charles’ step-brother with an incredibly powerful burst of unfocused energy—did the boy have no sense but to leave his vest at home—and now Cain was moving in again, and Erik was growing desperate.

There was more metal at his command, and he pulled it to him, placing it squarely in Cain’s way. It would take him no longer to tear through it than he had previously, but it would give Erik a moment within which to work.

If he couldn’t stop Cain from approaching them, then he could remove Charles and himself to another location. With a metallic groan and squeal, the Ferris wheel car they were in sheared its bolts. The people in the cars above and below them—unable to escape until the operator lowered them in turn—gave frightened screams. But Erik had control of the car now. It floated forward, rose high into the air, and farther away from the monster that was trying to reach them.

“He might be able to leap up here,” Charles said, looking down.

Erik caused the car to move even higher into the sky. “I doubt he could come this high. Perhaps you should tell Alex to escape now?”

Charles put two fingers to his temple. “There are others in the cars below, and the operator has fled. Would you—“

“Save the humans?” Erik interjected. “I think we should concentrate on the troubles at hand, Charles. Why haven’t you stopped your step-brother?”

“Helmet,” Charles said. “You know about those.”

“Indeed.”

Below them, Cain was a small moving speck. From far below came the sound of something heavy being ripped—whatever it was wasn’t metal—and then a whistling noise and Erik swung the car forcefully to the side just as the heavy beam of wood hurtled past them.

Charles’ grip on the bar in front of him was white knuckled. “Might not be able to jump, but he can throw.”

“Stay here,” Erik said as he prepared to leap over the edge. He had metal embedded in his clothes, allowing him to control his descent. “And tell your boy Alex to start firing everything he’s got.”

“No, Erik, wait!”

But Erik was already over the side, and falling slowly.

~~~

There. There!

There it came again.

Twice now. The same energy as had initially sent him spinning in infinite directions.

He knew that energy. He’d been seeking it out.

He spent a moment to gather himself, pulling all of him inwards, coiling his molecules all around, building himself up again. He strained, and grew.

Time to become solid again.

~~~

 

Alex had blasted Cain a moment after he let loose with that beam of wood. Cain went flying backward into the trailer just as he’d hoped and lay still for a long moment. Alex didn’t wait to see if he’d stay down, he sprinted at him, jumping over debris.

“Don’t get up, please don’t get up,” he chanted to himself. When he got to Cain, his fingers were just about to get a grip on the helmet when Cain righted himself. Alex pushed backward and gave off a shot of energy more quickly than he’d ever thought he could.

Its recoil sent him tumbling backwards, head over heels, and Cain smacked again into the tangled wreck that had been the trailer.

Alex righted himself, the world spinning. He was disoriented, and not sure what was up or down, much less where he should start to fire again. Blinking furiously, he realized that the metal of the wreck was forming bands around Cain. Erik’s doing.

Alex tried to make everything stop spinning. He needed to get back in there and get the helmet off.

With a shout, Cain brought his arms up, tearing the metal bonds. “Ha ha!” he laughed. “You can’t keep me down, can you?” He picked up hunks of the metal and started lobbing them into the sky. “Have a taste of your own medicine.” Ten, fifteen, twenty objects were launched in the space of a breath.

“No!” Alex looked skyward. Erik had lifted the Professor’s capsule up there, and left him behind, and now the Professor was the sole target.

“Don’t you know any better than to throw metal objects?” Erik said as he dropped gracefully to the ground. He had one hand held aloft and Alex could see the objects all start to turn around and pick up speed as they aimed straight for Cain. All of them except for one object.

“Erik!” he yelled, pointing. Not everything Cain had thrown had been composed of metal.

Erik turned with narrowed eyes and flung up his other hand, trying to move the Professor’s car, but he hadn’t enough time to react, and the object struck the car. Erik grunted, his hands waving, fingers splayed and Alex watched as the car plummeted, swinging wildly, and then finally righted itself just before hitting the ground.

And then Cain swung one meaty arm and brushed Erik aside, as if he were nothing but a fluttering moth, and Erik crashed into a heap off to the side.

“Oh, hell,” Alex said. He couldn’t see if the Professor was okay, and now it looked like Erik was out of it. He turned back to face Cain.

~~~

Coalescing was not as difficult as he’d thought it would be. In fact, it felt more like dancing. Each and every molecule had a role to play, a step to take, and a space to fill, and he pulled them all together as if he were conducting a great symphony.

There was another burst of high-energy, and Darwin knew he’d found Alex.

Shimmering into form, he pulled in the first breath of air that he’d had in months. It felt so odd, so strange, so good. So familiar.

“Alex,” he said, smiling, and hoping he didn’t look too far different. Alex looked incredibly real, and alive, and very preoccupied. “Alex!”

Alex turned his head to look at him and his mouth dropped open. “Armando?” he whispered, but his eyes didn’t hold him. He looked back in front of him and summoned another powerful crest of energy to shoot out. “Darwin!” he looked joyous. “You’re alive! You’re _here_!” Suddenly he reached out and grabbed Darwin’s wrist. “Shit, man! We’re in the middle of a fight! Run!” He pulled him backwards, firing off another salvo.

Darwin looked to where Alex had been aiming. A huge hulking man in an audacious orange colored outfit was lumbering down on them, and Alex’s blasts seem to only make him very annoyed. He ran with Alex.

“What’s going on?” Darwin asked.

“How’re you alive?” Alex asked at the same moment. “I thought you were dead. I thought I’d killed you. That Shaw had killed you, with my energy.”

“Not dead,” Darwin said, settling for the easiest explanation. “Took me awhile to adapt back. Just different.”

Alex’s grin of joy and relief was enough to say everything in reply. “You picked a hell of a time to show up. We’re about to get our asses whupped.”

Darwin narrowed his gaze. “What can I do?”

“We need to get his helmet off,” Alex said. He cast a glance off in a direction over his shoulder. “Professor got knocked out, I think. But if he comes to, and if the helmet is off, he can do his thing.”

“Lot of ifs.” Darwin pointed. “Your guy isn’t coming after us.”

“He’s after Charles,” Alex said. “Shit, we’ve got to get between them!” He changed the direction in which he was running.

Darwin followed. His gait was decidedly loping, and floating, and Darwin thought that perhaps he hadn’t quite yet gotten himself as solidified as he might. He concentrated, but in the hurry and rush, he didn’t have the concentration to pull his molecules in tighter around him. They were gaining on the enormous man, who was shaking the ground with each heavy tread of his feet but who wasn’t moving very swiftly.

Darwin could see Charles now, limp in a metal seat in the middle of the field, his head dashed with a dark stain that could only be blood. This was bad news. Darwin tracked on Alex, who was building up a blast even as he ran. How long had Darwin been gone? The Alex he’d known had been hesitant about his control of even a single blast, much less to try to aim while moving.

Deciding on a course of action, Darwin took a leap and landed on the monster’s shoulders. He wrapped his legs around the man’s thick neck and held on for dear life. Knife hands, he thought. I need sharp edged fingers. The fingers of his right hand sharpened and became like blades, and he slashed at the straps of the helmet.

His hand shifted back to normal and he tried to pull at the helmet. It wouldn’t budge. “Fire, Alex!” he yelled. “Fire! I can’t get it off, it’s stuck!”

Alex fired, his eyes widening a moment after he’d released the energy, realization dawning on him that he’d fired at his enemy, yes, but also at Darwin again. “No!” he had time to shout before the energy smacked into its target, and Darwin felt it push all his molecules apart again.

He swirled around, trying to determine where to best reform. This was now a familiar state to him, and making himself solid again would be so much easier the second time around.

 _Wait_ , he thought. The Professor was just a bit over there—already a few of his errant molecules had reached him—and he’d been hurt. He should check.

Summoning the core of himself, he went to where Charles was, and indeed he was unconscious. Darwin gently eased himself within, in-between the molecules that were Charles. He’d not done this before, though he had traveled through and past solid objects—solidness was only the state of packing, and of the energy state given to any set of materials.

He wasn’t exactly sure how to orient himself within Charles, yet he knew when he reached the area of injury. Molecules were in chaos, and not following the strictly outlined pattern of movement. Bleeding, he would have called it, and Charles was bleeding inside his head. Darwin began to correct things. From his vantage, he couldn’t tell how bad the injury was, but he would fix what he could while he was here. He swirled down the rest of the body, finding bruises and ignoring those, a broken bone that he did mend, and something else. An older injury, and a damaging one. Darwin hesitated. This was more difficult. The lines and spiderweb-patterns before him—it was difficult to tell which went where, and he felt the press of time being spent—a few breaks were obvious and he mended those. He brushed at the ends, telling them to regenerate. _Heal thyself_ , he commanded, and hoped that perhaps they would begin anew, as they had been told.

There was a pulse of energy—Alex’s energy—and Darwin knew he was out of time. The giant was back on his feet, and whether his helmet was off or not, they would have to get the Professor to safety.

Darwin swirled out. He’d done enough to fix the current damage—the Professor should wake up soon. He hoped.

~~~

“Darwin!” Alex screamed. Cain went down and his helmet went flying off. “No!” They’d done it. They’d gotten the helmet off, and at the worst price possible. It couldn’t happen, not twice. Alex had killed Darwin. Again. He’d just exploded into invisible pieces of nothingness—his energy blasts didn’t hardly scratch Cain, and Alex had yet again fired on his friend.

Cain raised himself to his knees and then to his feet. “Those sure do tickle,” he said, sneering. “I feel like I’m getting hit in the face with a pail of feathers. Looks like you blasted your friend to smithereens, though, huh, pal?” He threw back his head and laughed. “Don’t feel bad, kid. Nothing can stop me, I’m the Juggernaut.”

Alex just started screaming and firing. Energy blast after blast gathered in him, at his chest, and he flung it forward, pushing with his hands, with his will, with all his might. Until he fell to his knees, gasping for air.

The Juggernaut was a hundred feet away and flat on his back. But he wasn’t going to stay down.

“Hey, calm down,” Darwin’s voice hovered in the air next to his ear. “I’m still around.”

Alex turned to see his friend, whole and smiling again. He threw his arms around him. “You didn’t die!”

Darwin slapped him on the back, returning the hug. “Naw. I told you. I adapt.” He looked down the field to where Cain was slowly stirring. “Can you move?” he asked. “Charles is hurt. We need to get him out of here.”

“Yes,” Alex said, and got unsteadily to his feet.

Darwin looked doubtful, but didn’t argue. “Then let’s get going.”

~~~

The first thing Charles saw when he opened his eyes was the vision of a man he knew to be dead staring at him with deep concern on his face. “I guess I died,” he said. “It’s nice to see you again, Armando.” He blinked. “My parents couldn’t…ah…make it?” He was disappointed. If he had to have died—and he vaguely recalled plummeting in that metal trap that Erik had thought was safely ensconced in the sky—he would have hoped to see his mother and father again. Especially his father. He’d been so young when he father had died, they’d had such little time together. Not that Armando was bad; he’d really liked the young man. He’d been so, so sorry about his death.

“Sorry to disappoint you, Professor,” Alex said, his face coming into view. “But you’re not dead. And Cain is about to get on top of us.” He wiggled his hand. “Now would be a really good time for one of your tricks.” He swallowed and looked at Armando, worry flashing between them.

“Ah, yes, then,” Charles said, trying to comprehend. His arms still worked and ached, and he hurt all over. Hurt too much to be dead. He brought his fingers to his temple and stared past Armando and Alex into the dark blue sky. Twilight had come along while he’d been out. First he brushed against Alex’s mind. Ah…things made more sense now. “Erik?” he asked out loud, though he’d seen his friend pushed aside like a rag doll. He didn’t need an answer. “Help me up a bit,” he asked, and Alex and Armando steadied him while he pushed himself upright. He stared down at his hand, his fingers were red with blood.

“You’ve got a head injury,” Armando told him as he saw where Charles was looking. “You should be okay now, though.” His attention shifted. “Sooner would be better than later, sir.”

Charles suddenly realized that Cain was just about looming over them, a maniacal grin of triumph on his face, and one hand reaching down for Charles. _Freeze_ , Charles commanded and Cain froze.

Alex and Armando both sagged in relief.

~~~

“Charles!” Erik yelled and raised his hand to summon metal. He’d been knocked about a bit, lost a little of the fight, and now saw Cain about to grab him-- Erik pulled up, the metal waited for his command. Cain wasn’t moving. He was a giant, still statue.

The tightness in his chest eased. Only Charles could have done that. Somehow Alex had gotten the helmet off and Charles had survived his descent—Erik shuddered at the memory, he’d not been able to _control_ it quickly enough—and they’d stopped Cain. Erik straightened himself up and made his way out into the field where the little Ferris wheel seat lay, with its small tangle of people.

“Hello, Darwin,” he greeted as he saw there was an additional person present. “I’m pleased to see you again.”

Darwin tipped his head and whistled low, flashing a knowing look at Alex. “Good to see you again, too, Erik. Cool as ever, I see.”

Erik frowned, but let it pass. He knelt down to be face to face with Charles. There was blood at his temple, but he seemed otherwise not seriously injured, and Erik thanked his good fortune. He had felt the impact of the metal car with the earth, and known the force. How Charles had survived it, much less been relatively unscathed—Erik turned his thoughts away from that. He needed to deal with the here and now. Perhaps twenty minutes, or less, in total had passed since the beginning of the entire fight. There were many decisions still to be made.

He turned his head to see the glittering, furious expression of Cain glaring down at them. “Perhaps you good take that look off his face?” Erik murmured.

“What?” Charles looked up. “Oh, yes.” He concentrated, eyes closed, and the expression on Cain’s face melted away into blandness. The eyes still held the focus of rage denied, but Erik was less concerned with that.

“What now?” Erik asked. “What will you do with him?”

“I—“ Charles looked doubtful. “We could—“ He shook his head.

“If you release him, he’ll come for you again.”

“I know,” Charles whispered, and there was a defeated slump to his shoulders.

“Why?” Alex asked. “Why is he here? And who is he?”

“And how did he get that big?” Darwin asked. “Is he a mutant, too?”

Charles frowned and raised his fingers again. He spoke a moment later. “No. Never a mutant. This is my step-brother, Cain Marko.”

“He called himself the Juggernaut,” Alex said, his voice bitter.

“He’s had a different path in life, an adventure far beyond our own,” Charles said. “There was a ruby, and it granted him this power. He is an irresistible force.”

“Oh, well, that makes sense,” Alex said sarcastically.

Charles shifted his eyes to Alex, and they were a bit hurt. “It does seem outlandish, but that’s the truth.”

“And he came for you?” Erik said, narrowing his eyes at Alex. Did the boy have no sense at all? Erik wondered if Charles would be very upset if he cut the kid’s traitorous tongue out.

“He’s always hated me,” Charles said. “Ever since he first came to live with us. We were a bit competitive growing up. Academics and sports and for the attention of our families.”

Darwin nodded. “I know how that is.” He flicked a look to Erik. “No one hates you like the ones that know you.”

Alex shook his head. “He got incredible powers and he decided to come looking for you, for childhood revenge? Incredible!”

“I wish it were,” Charles said. He raised his eyes to meet Erik. “He hates me very much.”

“I can have Azazel take him anywhere you like,” Erik said. “But unless you do something, he will just come back looking for you.”

“I know.” Charles looked sad. He took a long, deep breath and raised his fingers to his temple.

“Make it permanent,” Erik added, and then dug a little harder and sharper, “Or you put those around you at risk as well.”

Charles nodded. Then, even the hate from Cain’s eyes was erased, and Cain sat down on the ground, and didn’t move. “Please have Azazel take him…where you think best,” Charles said, looking away.

Erik smiled, grim and pleased. Perhaps Charles could be pushed a little past those damnable solid morals he thought should trump all real-world concerns. It was a victory, small and tangible, and Erik spent a moment to savor it. If they didn’t want the same things, they wanted similar enough things, and they only followed different paths to those goals, and Charles had just taken a step in the direction of where Erik stood.

Charles suddenly looked up. “Erik, there are still people trapped on the Ferris Wheel, and the other rides!”

Erik gave him a placating hand motion. He looked to Darwin and Alex. “If you take him back to the mansion, I shall deal with Mr. Marko. And release the trapped people.”

~~~

Alex wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to trust that Erik was going to get those people out of the rides, but the three of them weren’t best suited to it, and Alex really wanted to get the Professor back home. He agreed, and then went to fetch the Professor’s wheelchair—explaining in terse words to Darwin what things had happened while he’d been gone.

The Professor didn’t speak much while they wheeled him to the car, and Alex thought perhaps his mind was with Erik’s, monitoring him. On second thought, Alex decided as he looked at the Professor’s ashen face, probably he was just exhausted.

“Some fun night, wasn’t it, Alex?” he asked. “At least nobody died.”

“Yeah.” At the car Alex saw the brown paper bag that Gus had given him hours ago and shook his head. Little creep had seen everything! He picked up the bag and took the gauze and ointment out, then handed the rest of the bag over to Darwin, who took it with a questioning look.

“What’s this?”

“Bag of spare clothes,” Alex said, then grinned. “What with all the excitement. You probably didn’t realize you didn’t come back with your clothes on.”

Darwin finally looked down at himself and then he laughed. “Well, damn,” he said. He took the bag of clothes. “Thanks.”

Alex waved a hand as he turned his focus to bandaging up the Professor’s head. He’d tell Gus thank you later. The kid was a space-cadet, but he certainly had known the future. If Cain had attacked at the mansion…Alex shuddered. The traveling carnival was a complete mess. He didn’t want to think what might have happened at the house. They might have lost.

~~~

After calling Azazel and having him dispose of Cain Marko—in a location Charles would certainly have disapproved of, Erik had gone to save the wretched humans.

Erik released several sets of people from the Ferris wheel, and they’d run from him as if he were the devil himself. Sighing, he’d heeded Charles’ mental advisory of where others were trapped, and gone to another ride, now twisted out of recognition. _I’m only doing this for you, you know._ Erik had sent.

 _These are the last, Erik. And…would you mind coming…home? I would so very much like your company tonight._

 _I was never going elsewhere,_ Erik replied. He hadn’t expected to spend the night, but given the circumstances, he wasn’t going to leave until he’d reassured himself that Charles was utterly safe, and completely fine. Erik also wouldn’t mind finding out how Darwin had managed to appear again—having been considered deceased for slightly over a year now.

Erik pushed these thoughts away. He had located the two individuals. They were actually inside a warped metal car from the rollercoaster. Erik suspected that he’d something to do with that warping, when he’d been pulling metal from anywhere and everywhere to cast at Cain.

A man was crouched outside the car, his arm pushed into a crevice. He looked at Erik. “My wife and son are in there,” he said, his voice desperate and pleading. “Can you help? I can’t get them out.” He gestured to a shovel, the handle broken, where he’d obviously tried to pry it apart.

“Stand back,” Erik asked him, and the man moved back. His face was hopeful, but he was clutching his hands together as if he couldn’t contain his worry and fear.

Erik took a moment to examine the seams of the metal, to ensure that in shifting the metal he would do no damage to the occupants. Then, he lifted his hands and clawed at the air, ordering the metal to obey his will, and the metal gave a shriek and a groan, protesting that it must shift again, without benefit of heat, but it obeyed his will, and then there was an opening wide enough.

“Damn,” the man said behind him and jumped forward to plant himself between his wife and son and Erik, helping his son crawl out. A moment later both the wife and son were out, smudged, but safe. The man returned to Erik and thrust out his hand, “Thank you, Mister, thank you. I don’t know what you just did, or how you did it. But thank you.”

Erik stared at the man’s hand for a long moment before he responded. He shook the man’s hand. “You’re welcome,” he said slowly.

Then the wife dashed forward, her arms still cradling her son’s shoulders. He protested with a noise that he was pressed between them as she kissed Erik’s cheek. “Thank you,” she said, and ducked back, her arms still encircled around her son’s shoulders, as if she would never let go again.

His final task done, Erik lifted himself into the air, and left the family behind. He was startled to realize all three were waving at him, smiles still on their faces. He could only imagine that they would come to change their minds in a few hours, and decide that they feared and hated him. Because this _thankfulness_ made no sense to him. He’d saved half a dozen others from entrapment and they’d screamed and run. Why not this family, too?

Puzzled, but trying not to be bothered over it, Erik made his way to the mansion.

~~~

Hank was shocked to see Sean return with the other students.

“What happened?” he demanded as they brought the students in. Gus took them into the kitchen to give them all ice cream treats for having to leave the carnival early, and Hank pulled Sean into a dark corner of the entry area.

“I have to fly back, Alex might need me,” Sean told him. “I don’t know what happened. One minute everything was fine, and then the Professor was in my head telling me there’s danger and to get the students out. There wasn’t time to ask a lot of questions.”

“You left him there?” Hank asked, horrified. “Alex and Charles by themselves?”

“What else could I do?” Sean asked. “I had to get the students home!”

Hank knew this was reasonable, but still, the thought of some unknown danger crushed him from the outside in. He should have been there, should have gone. If he wasn’t so large and blue, he’d have been at the carnival, present and ready to help. He made a fist with one hand and growled low in his throat.

“Besides,” Sean continued. “Erik was there, too.”

Suddenly Hank can’t even see straight. Erik. As dangerous as he was capable. Whether as friend or foe, it only depended on his whim of the moment. “We have to get there,” Hank decided. “Can you carry my weight?”

“We can give it a try,” Sean said as he ran for the stairs to get his suit.

“We’ll leave Gus here with the students,” Hank called out, and headed for the kitchen to confirm this with Gus. The kids liked Gus, for whatever reason. His quirky nature didn’t seem to bother them, as they still seemed to think adults were all-knowing, so having an actual psychic didn’t seem to faze them.

Gus looked up as Hank came in the kitchen. He smiled and looked to the wall clock. “It’ll be over in five minutes,” he said. “You won’t get there in time.” He pointed to the freezer with the ice cream scoop. “We’ll need an ice bag,” he said. “The Professor bumped his head a bit. He had a concussion, but the other man who returned fixed it.”

Hank had no idea what Gus was talking about, except the first part. “Over?” he asked. “And they’re all safe.” His eyes were riveted to the clock. Five minutes from now?

“Safe,” Gus confirmed.

~~~

Erik could see that the car was parked and empty, meaning he had arrived after Charles, Alex, and Darwin. The others in the house should already be aware that he will be arriving, so he wasted no time in entering the mansion.

Gus, the prognosticator was there, waiting for him in the hallway. He held out a fabric ice bag, and it was full. “For the Professor,” he said. “There’s fruit salad in the ice box, too, for when you’re hungry.”

Erik took the offered ice bag and stared at the boy as he returned to the kitchen. Fruit salad. One of the things he most enjoyed eating, considering his years of deprivation. He wondered if perhaps he should be enticing Gus away, to join the Brotherhood.

Gus popped his head out of the kitchen, and Erik belatedly remembered that the boy was also a low level telepath. “I’ll tell you anything you want about the future,” Gus said, “You and Charles only have to ask, and I would tell you every possibility that existed.”

“Thank you, Gus,” Erik said. He could hear the younger students in the kitchen as he passed--bowls and silverware clinking, the low and happy chatter that indicated they were unaware of what had transpired.

Erik stalked through the house unimpeded. He found them all surrounding Charles in his bedroom, speaking in low tones that fell into silence. Hank growled as he entered, but Erik ignored it. Charles was propped up in bed and they all turn to stare at Erik as he approached. Erik held up the ice bag. “I brought this,” he said.

“Thank you,” Darwin said, and took the bag. He gently helped Charles place it on his head. Charles’ gaze sought out Erik’s the moment he entered the room, locking on to him, his lips quirked up ever so slightly at the corners.

“I’m told I have a concussion,” Charles said, “and I’m to rest, but not to sleep.”

“A wise precaution,” Erik replied. The others were all staring at him and it was hard not to keep a wry smile from his lips. “I would, of course, volunteer to sit vigil with you.”

“We thought you might,” Alex said, with a hard look to Sean and Hank. Erik could read a lot in that look. Grudging respect, and a warning to the others to allow Erik to stay without a fight. As if Erik needed their permission. Only Charles could tell him to leave, and Erik was sure that would not happen. At least, not tonight.

There was small talk for a few minutes, discussion of minor trivialities, but Erik cannot process it, his attention was entirely given to the man resting on the bed. Finally, they all left, and Charles and he were alone.

Charles watched as Erik bolted the door with the flick of his fingers, and then came to the bed. He crawled behind Charles and Charles leaned forward to allow Erik to settle in behind him. Then he shifted back and rested his weight on Erik’s chest. Suddenly Erik was more comfortable than he had been in months, even with Charles’ weight against him, and the weariness of the afternoon swamped him.

“I’m sleepy,” Charles said, his voice slow, “just like you.”

Erik brought his hands up to caress over Charles’ shoulders and then to wrap around him in a gentle hug. He bent down to whisper in Charles’ ear. “You can’t sleep, you know. They said concussion.” Erik frowned. “How do they know? Is Hank a doctor now?”

“Armando,” Charles said. “He’s had emergency responder training. And—“ Charles shrugged. “I need to speak with him more about it, but he mentioned some odd thing about seeing inside my head. Not like a telepath, more like he was there, and—whatever he meant, it sounded amazingly interesting. A new facet of his gift.”

“Inside your head!” Erik startled.

“When I was unconscious, after the fall,” Charles spoke slowly and Erik could hear the tension in his voice.

“So you were hurt….” Erik closed his eyes. His control over his power had grown, and he thought he had been better on top of events—

“Stop that,” Charles said, with a gentle flick of his hand over Erik’s own. “It’s over and done, and we’re both here and safe.” He shifted and the ice bag shifted. “Yeesh, that is cold.” He pulled it off his head. “I think that’s enough for the moment.”

Erik gently felt around on the crown of Charles’ head. Charles gave a noise of pain from the back of his throat as Erik lightly touched the tender area. “You have a lump here the size of a robin’s egg,” he said. “I would much appreciate your putting the ice bag back on.”

“If you insist—“

“I do.” Erik picked up the bag and lowered it slowly onto Charles’ head. “There.”

“You know,” Charles began, as he settled back again. “We didn’t get to finish our talk on the Ferris wheel.”

“We’re in bed together and you want to tell me about Hank’s inventions, again?” Erik chuckled. “And I thought I was lacking in romantic notions.”

“I didn’t tell you the important part.”

“What’s the important part?” Erik found he couldn’t help but move his hands over Charles. His shoulders, down his arms, touching the insides of his elbows, to his hands. His arms had grown strong, much bulkier, since he’d begun using them so much more. Erik found that even though the change struck a sad chord in him, that he liked this stronger version of Charles.

“What we can do with the earnings,” Charles said softly, and the words felt to Erik as if they had the heaviest of weights pulling at them. “I know you think I’m far too soft.” Erik had nothing to say to that, so he stayed silent, and rubbed his fingers lightly over the length of Charles’ neck. “But there is already a system in place, and given the right impetus, we can use it. Fashion it to our own ends.”

“What are you talking about?” Erik asked.

“Campaign contributions. Lobbyists. Given enough capital applied in the appropriate ways, at opportune moments, and we can shape legislation.”

Now Erik was listening. “You’re going to buy corrupt politicians?” he asked.

Charles laughed. “Oh, no, no. Nothing that despicable. Nothing that none of the other special interest groups don’t do. But it can’t hurt if they’re beholden to us, as contributors. They’ll push our agenda.”

“Shhh,” Erik said. He could feel the tension mounting in the muscles of Charles’ neck. “It’s a brilliant plan. I like it. A multi-pronged attack.”

“Multi—“

“Yes. Your school here, working for the good of children, and then you play puppet master with their law makers. While I work underground.”

“I thought…perhaps…you would come to stay….”

Erik placed a kiss against the nape of Charles’ neck. “Let’s see how well the plan goes before I give up my group.” He lowered his voice to barely that of a whisper. “I do miss you, Charles. With every fiber of my being. If I thought I could stay here, with you, and there would be quiet out there, I would. But there is such unrest as you can not imagine. It will tear the world apart, and I will not be unprepared.”

Charles didn’t respond, and Erik touched his forehead to the back of Charles’ head, and was content with silence.

~~~

Charles looked at the clock. Two in the morning. He supposed, concussion or not, that he could be allowed to sleep now. He turned and looked fondly at Erik, who had fallen asleep over an hour ago, and who looked—if not peaceful—then at a temporary peace, for the moment.

Charles ran a finger down the side of Erik’s face, to his jaw line, then to his chin. He had grown gaunt again. The bones beneath his skin stood out sharply, and the tendons and muscles were easily seen working beneath his skin at his wrists and forearms. Charles sighed. It was too easy to see how Erik was working himself to exhaustion. Fighting, hiding, planning. Taking the weight of responsibility on his shoulders. The weight of securing safety not just for himself, but for all mutants. A noble, lofty vision.

A vision Charles shared in many measures, just not through the exact same lens.

Charles pushed himself down beside Erik, curling in beside him. Erik’s breathing was steady, and the sheets around him were warm.

He had to bring Erik home before he killed himself with this quest. Bring him home, to safety and comfort, and love.

Charles thought of his plans—with Hank’s and Gus’ help—and vowed to redouble his efforts.

Erik might leave him once again in the morning, but there would come a day when he would not, and all of Charles’ nights would be like this one, and they would sleep in each others’ arms for the rest of those nights.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not exactly sure how this ended up being a series, but now there are three parts. Each part can be read independently, although this one references That Joy Would Soon Return a wee bit.
> 
> This is all post-X-Men: First Class. I'm not entirely sure that XM:FC is actually a true prequel in that there are some things that don't really match up, so this series won't end up getting to the place where those movies begin, and in that sense, these will be AU.
> 
> Title from a quote/song:  
>  _Hope told a flattering tale  
>  That joy would soon return;  
> Ah, naught my sighs avail  
> For love is doomed to mourn._
> 
> \- song introduced into the opera, "Artaxerxes", words by John Wolcot (Peter Pindar)


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